Grey's Apology

Isaiah Washington has his bedside manner down—it's his on-set manners he needs to work on.

The Grey's Anatomy doc has issued an apology for reportedly using a homophobic slur and shoving costar Patrick Dempsey during an on-set argument two weeks ago that has since escalated to near-mythical throwdown proportions.

"I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set," the 43-year-old told People magazine in a statement. "Both are beneath my own personal standards.

"I have nothing but respect for my coworkers...and have apologized personally to everyone involved."

That would be Dempsey and, presumably, T.R. Knight.

The fracas took place on Oct. 9 and reportedly stemmed from both mounting tensions between costars—exacerbated the week before, when the cast was shooting in close quarters on location, sources told E! Online—and the alleged tardiness of Knight.

According to reports of the incident, the hot docs were due to shoot a scene together for which Knight was running late. Washington reportedly commented on his tardiness, at which point Dempsey stepped in to defend his absent costar.

The New York Daily News claimed that Washington then threw out some unsavory—and very un-PC remarks—toward Dempsey, grabbing him by his McDreamy throat and giving him a shove.

While the stars of the show have confirmed in the most general terms that some sort of skirmish took place, they have refused to divulge what exactly transpired, though through what little details they have released, they've been careful to downplay the dustup.

A few days after the reports began circulating—and when it was clear they weren't going away—Washington released a statement saying there had been a "difference of opinions," but that no punches were thrown because "our faces are too beautiful for that!"

Katherine Heigl appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, further downplaying the altercation, calling it "something silly and manly...there was a little burst of testosterone in the room, and then within five minutes, everything was totally fine."

Not with the fans.

Apparently not content with the perfunctory acknowledgment and quick dismissal of the incident, several Websites began calling for Washington, who plays Dr. Preston Burke on the show, to be replaced. Others dug up supposedly similar, though barely corroborated, incidents from his past.

"I found [those rumors] not only ridiculous but offensive—that we would consider replacing a member of our family," Shonda Rhimes, the show's creator, told People. "And also the [idea] that one black man was interchangeable with another seemed disturbing to me."

"The mood's what the mood's always been," she told the magazine. "We have a group of people who are more of a family than anything else. We have our fun days, and we have our days when people are tired and the work is hard."

However, the story wouldn't seem to stop gaining traction, making the most headway last week, when Knight came out, admitting he was gay to "quiet any unnecessary rumors that might be out there."

The rumor mill began working overtime, with speculation mounting that his disclosure was timed to the aftermath of the incident, and he was forced to reveal his sexuality in response to questions over whom the alleged homophobic slur was directed at.

Rhimes, however, denies reports the incident has made any sort of lasting impression on the cast and insists that the trio and everyone else on set "are fine."

"They've had conversations," she told the magazine, adding that Washington and Knight "did a really great scene together the other day."

She also wrote off the entire situation as "four and a half seconds of one day in three years. I feel like we've already moved on."